Siemens new chief Peter Loescher has his work cut out. But the company’s chairman Gerhard Cromme says Siemens faces massive fines and could be blacklisted in the US because of the bribery scandal.
Siemens chief executive office Klaus Kleinfeld has announced that he won't renew his contract with the industrial and engineering conglomerate now embroiled in scandal. He turned the company around and made it profitable but the directors have sacrificed him to save their skins.
Siemens chairman Heinrich Von Pierer has bowed to the inevitable and stepped down in response to the bribery scandal. Siemens shares are up but it won’t be for long with lingering questions and revelations that the company’s management is knee deep in slush funds.
The unusual way German boards are set up with directors that include union reps. It’s contributed to the bigger problem with German corporate governance. Siemens is one example. Time for change.
The French spent no small amount of money on the spectacle. The electricity required to operate the train strained the rail line's power grid almost to the breaking point. The overhead electrical lines and a large part of the train's propulsion system "can for all intents and purposes be junked" after a trip like Tuesday's, an engineer at the German train manufacturer Siemens claims.
Siemens' bribery woes have gone from bad to worse with the arrest of board member Johannes Feldmayer, once regarded as the big contender for the top job there. The arrest was made in connection with an investigation of alleged payments to the head of a small labor union.
Leon Gettler is a blogger and senior business journalist at The Age, specializing on management issues. His latest book, Organisations Behaving Badly focuses on the forces that lead smart executives into making dumb decisions.
